25 sept. 2006

As I'm working far from home all this week, (go to Paris, where I could see the Radio Birdman on wednesday !!), there won't be postings til next sunday. But as I post not so often, I guess it will not annoys you so much.Thanks for those of you who read me. And enjoy the Shoes lp !

"It may not have the hip thing to do at the time but Shoes carried on the pure pop traditions of the Beatles and the Raspberries during the late '70s and early '80s with a charming innocence and execution unmatched by the more derivative bands lumped into the category "power pop."

Shoes was formed by in Zion, IL, in 1975 by Jeff Murphy, John Murphy, Gary Klebe, and Skip Meyer -- the Murphys and Klebe all sharing songwriting duties. After one self-made and extremely limited album (only 300 were pressed), 1975's Un Dans Versalles, and the unreleased Bazooka (1976), they recorded their true debut for national consumption, Black Vinyl Shoes, in Jeff Murphy's living room and released it on their own label, Black Vinyl Records. Though it was barely distributed, enough critics and key people heard the record to start a word-of-mouth buzz. Eventually, Greg Shaw, the head of Bomp! Records, heard the record and arranged for the band to release one single, the brilliant "Tommorrow Night"/"Okay," on his label. A contract with Elektra Records soon followed. Elektra released the group's next three, textbook power-pop albums: Present Tense (1979), Tongue Twister (1981), and Boomerang (1982). Despite the instantly accessible, catchy quality of the songs, they were unable to achieve mainstream success -- among specialists however, these albums, along with the debut, stand as the high points of the era" (...)(by Chris Woodstra from Allmusic.com)

In Her ShadowCuriosity Mayday Too SoonDouble TalkThe Summer RainUnder The GunThe TubeWhat Love MeansBound To Be A ReasonShake It AwayTested CharmsToo Late (Live)Hangin' Around With You (Live)Cruel You (Live)In My Arms Again (Live)She Satisfies (Live)Hate To Run (Live)

16 sept. 2006

LMNOP is Stephen Fievet, an Atlanta native whose deceptively sweet vocal style and fondness for near-bubblegum melodies partially hides about the most twisted, perverse sense of humor in rock & roll history.(...)LMNOP first hit the pop underground with three self-released cassettes, 1982's LMNOP, 1984's LMNOP LMNOP, and 1985's LMNO3. Fievet's most accessible work, these tapes are ultra-catchy pop with clever lyrics, hooks aplenty, and Fievet's most deceptively innocent vocals. Fievet re-recorded some tracks from these three tapes for his first two vinyl albums, 1986's Elemen Opee Elpee and 1987's Pony, which sound like a cross between R. Stevie Moore and the Three O'Clock (...)(rest of the story by Stewart Mason on Allmusic.com.)

For my part, LMNOPee Lpee is one of my favorite pop album , and while his weird texts could make me remember of Zappa or Captain Beefheart, we could also musically filed it between The Last, the Squeeze, Undertones, (listen to this guitar), and for the kind of compact and much personnal songwriting : Devo and Lloyd Cole. (waouh !)

Stefen Fievet have a web site, where you could find all you want to : from the music to his weird comics.